Ban on International Flights Extended Till July 15, Govt to Allow Operations on Selected Routes

DGCA has announced that the ban on scheduled international passenger flights will be extended till July 15, 2020. The civil aviation ministry also stated that a few scheduled international flights will be exempted for certain routes on case to case basis.

Govt opened the domestic flight services in a calibrated manner from May 25 and is currently undertaking the Vande Bharat Mission Phase 3 with the aim to repatriate stranded international passengers both in the country and outside. However, these flights are non scheduled commercial flights only.

Ahead of the announcement, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, while announcing the resumption of domestic flights said that the government is yet to decide on international flights and will only do so once the other transportation services are resumed in India.

While the aviation sector has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, resumption of domestic flights has given some respite to the air carriers.

Amidst the ban, cargo flights, offshore helicopter operations, medical evacuation flights and special flights are permitted by Indian aviation regulator.